Mum’s $50 Bunnings makeover for daughter’s new home

A QLD mum left thousands stunned after she “easily” transformed an old TV cabinet and coffee table using a $50 Bunnings item.

A Queensland woman has managed to “save hundreds of dollars” after upcycling a second-hand TV cabinet and coffee table she bought online for just $65.

Donna Melrose-Sneddon, 56, was on the hunt for something to help bring her daughter’s new home to life after she split with her partner.

The mother-of-three said her daughter, who has a baby on the way, had no furniture and so it prompted her to go on Facebook Marketplace in the hopes she would score a bargain.

And she did.

“All she really had was an outdoor couch and a sofa her ex’s mother had given her, otherwise she didn’t have anything else,” Donna told news.com.au.

Donna Melrose-Sneddon, 56, from Queensland, bought this TV cabinet off Facebook Marketplace for just $50. Picture: Facebook

The Gold Coast mum managed to nab an old TV cabinet for $50 and a coffee table from an op-shop for $15, transforming the pair using a tin of Bunnings white chalk paint for $50.

“I thought why not transform them both to match,” Donna said.

“I wanted to do something that was going to be easy – and so we just sanded back the tops and painted it white.”

Donna said sanding back the top of the TV cabinet took the longest with the mum spending

two hours on it.

She also scored this coffee table from an op-shop for $15. Picture: Facebook

“I then painted it in the chalk white and applied the varnish (which I already had) on top to seal it.”

She used half the 1L tin of paint on the cabinet and the other half on the table.

Donna said she was surprised to discover the beautiful colour underneath after sanding back both tops.

“It was so easy to do too and my daughter was so excited and happy with the end result.”

“I was also really happy with it – her house is quite dark inside but once the white furniture went in, it really brightened it up.”

It’s amazing what a bit of sanding and some chalk paint can do. Picture: Facebook

Donna shared her transformation to the popular Bunnings Mums Facebook page, clocking more than 2100 ‘likes’ and hundreds of comments from fellow DIY enthusiasts who compared her new pieces to expensive versions.

“I swear if I hadn’t seen the what you wrote. I reckon those items would cost at least $300 for the small table and prob $500 for the wall unit. well done Mum … (it’s what we do for our kids),” one woman wrote.

Donna used this Rust-Olem chalked linen white paint (right) from Bunnings for $50 (1L) followed by a varnish (left) she had at home. Picture: Facebook

Others were gobsmacked at how different the two pieces now looked.

“You could make a paying hobby out of that,” one mum commented.

“That coffee table is gorgeous!” said another.

Others were inspired to transform their old coffee tables too.

“Looks great. That’s exactly what I would like to do to mine. Don’t think it would be any good when finished,” one mum wrote, while another added: “Doing the same for my daughter just buying her first house.”

Donna said she was blown away by all the positive feedback and is particularly happy her daughter’s house “now feels like a home”.